SpellQuizzer helps students master their spelling words fast. The software helps the student practice his or her spelling words by quizzing them on their spelling words using audio prompts. The parent, teacher or student can input the words for each list making a sound recording of each word. SpellQuizzer then quizzes the student on each word correcting them when they make a mistake. Guaranteed to help any student master their weekly spelling lists in time for their end of week test.

Interactive Primary Spelling Tutor 1.0 Our interactive Primary Spelling tutor uses a 3D character to speak words to the user using clear, pre-recorded audio (not computer synthesized speech).
Our interactive Primary Spelling tutor uses a 3D character to speak words to the user using clear, pre-recorded audio (not computer synthesized speech). The program also provides the word to be spelt in a sentence and it's full dictionary definition is displayed on the screen. Easy install (and uninstall) wizard. Suitable for kids 10 years and upwards

Even though I'm posting a day after the giveaway (which I DID take advantage of yesterday) I wanted to express both my thanks for such a useful program and my respect for your willingness to thoroughly address the various issues that were experienced by some. Owning up to the grammatical "oopses" shows you to be a man of character as well - it'd be great if some of the regular "whiners" who post here took note and behaved in a similar manner!

My six-year-old (first grader) son sat down to try the program with the sample lists and was hooked! Both my wife and I praised him for tackling (very successfully) words that were three grade levels higher than his, and discovered that he really enjoyed the challenge of working with advanced words! My only regret is that his school is off for the entire week, so his teacher won't likely receive our messages encouraging her to contact you directly for a license. It would be great if GAOTD ran this giveaway again the week after Thanksgiving (and during the week) - I believe this would benefit both them AND you!

Nice program ... I look forward to seeing it offered again for those who missed it the first time!

Dan Hite here again (developer of SpellQuizzer). I just wanted to enter one last post thanking everyone for their kind comments and constructive criticism and also to address a couple more comments that were posted.

#82 "I get this error when run for the first time: A monitor program has been found running in your system. Please, unload it from memory and restart your program. What is it talking about?" The software uses an anti-piracy protection system that disables it when a Registry or file monitoring application such as Regmon, Filemon or Process Monitor is loaded. This is because those utilities are commonly used by crackers to try to figure out how the software is registered and protected. Even after you close one of those applications their monitoring driver is still loaded in memory until the computer is rebooted. The only solution is to 1) not start a monitoring utility like the ones mentioned above if you are going to be using SpellQuizzer and 2) if you have had one of the above utilities running then reboot before starting SpellQuizzer. Sorry for the inconvenience.

#84 " Tried to open http://www.spellquizzer.com/Contact.htm but I find that the server took too long to respond and the page times out…" My web hosting service may have been running maintenance last night. Please give it another try as all seems to be running fine now.

For those who ran into the problem of the software not being registered after running GAOTD’s install utility, I’m afraid that’s an issue that only GAOTD can fix since I didn’t make the installer for them. If you reported this problem here then contact me through www.SpellQuizzer.com/Contact.htm in the next 24 hours identifying your name and comment number from this page and I’ll float you a free license.

#87, CalifDen, #90, vj, this is why it's a waste of my time to post here. If you "create another entry for the same word", it creates two separate entries, it doesn't create a single entry with alternate spellings. And I don't live in the UK where they penalize you for not using a specified spelling when there are equally accepted alternative spellings. Also, research shows that UK spoken English is deteriorating faster in clarity than in the US, except for some US inner-cities (all in-use languages change over time).

Ah, #81, it brings back memories of childhood, and being marked wrong when I described a shape as an 'oblong'when the correct answer was 'rectangle'(I was seven). And wrong again when my answer to 'Name a famous Russian composer" was Rimsky-Korsakov, because the only answer the teacher expected was Tchaikovsky.

But this need not happen in SpellQuizzer. To prove this to myself I created a new list, and added jail, gaol, grey and gray.
At each alternatively spelled word I received a message, for example after adding 'grey' I tried adding 'gray' and was notified:
"The word "gray" already exists in the database. Do you wish to create another entry for the same word?

If not you can click no and then use the "Click to select existing words from database" button to add the existing word from the database."

Fubar (posts 72 and 81), with this program, you make you OWN lists, so you are free to spell words however you please. If there are alternative (accepted) spellings, it is easy enough to put both on your list. The only way you can "penalize a child for providing a correct spelling," as you put it, is if you fail to spell it properly when you create the list. The sample test is just that-a sample.

Running into the same problem - The 30 day trial issue. The software download agreement we agree to states it is a 30 day trial version and will stop working after 30 days - that it is a trial version only and options are provided to purchase the program for permanent use. There is a box to type in a registration key, however there is no "key" included in the activation process. I have followed the link to the creator of the software and explained the difficulties. I would encourage all to open the program after downloading and see if you are having this problem as well.

Clearly, many GOTD users don't know how to spell, based on the (presently) negative feedback to my comment #72. If a child enters a correct spelling which SpellQuizzer won't accept because it allows only one spelling for each word in the list, then that's a problem. Learning alternatives and exceptions is an important part of learning English. For the very simple example I gave, again based on one of the sample quizzes, "grey" is actually closer to the original spelling. A child should not be told that a correct spelling is incorrect (they may have learned the alternate, and they certainly will see it), and I don't care how many thumbs-down I get. Why would you penalize a child for providing a correct spelling?

72,60 above sorry American alternative spellings to English English are not acceptable in schools or Exams. It is not part of the UK education system to teach how American English is spelt or use their grammar. If you are using this software in the uk and to use the above example grey then if you use gray then it should fail the question

This is my first time on this site. It's so nice to be able to find free software in many different categories, and I appreciate the generosity of the developers who offer it. That there is a lot of unnecessary negativity from people who aren't even really interested in the software isn't surprising. This is typical of most online forums, unfortunately. Regarding one of the sillier complaints: Most software on the market today is NOT localized to every language on the planet, and it's unrealistic to expect that it would be. As it happens, I was looking at the US census figures for 2000 earlier this week (research for a project). There are over 72 million people under the age of 18 in the U.S., and more than half of them are under 14. I think there is a big enough market for a program like this. In the meantime, maybe some enterprising French, Italian, or Swahili software developers will step up to develop their own approach.

Kudos to you, as a developer, to be "brave" enough to offer your application on this site, knowing the thorough review and (in some cases harsh) criticism you and your program will receive. Your honest and respectful responses to each of the items is a clear indication of your professionalism, which I'm guessing is deomonstrated in this application and future projects as well. Since I have no use for this application and quite honestly havent tried it, I can't leave any comment regarding the program itself; however, I have to commend you for taking the time to address those who have left constructive feedback...I believe this says as much about the "company" behind the product as the product itself. It would be nice if other developers repsonded to the feedback and comments left by those of us who take the time to download, install, and comment on the applications offered at this site. Thanks again to you, and thanks to GOTD for offering this unique program as s refreshing change from screensavers and media converters.

I took another look at SpellingCity. The first test I tried used the same speaker (simple words). The second test had a different speaker for each word (more advanced words), so it does use real humans. Slightly different accents and inflections could make it more difficult for children to learn to spell, as they would need to adapt to each speaker. So SpellQuizzer could have an advantage, in addition to not requiring Internet access, and allowing you to create your own sentences.

I've been using SpellingCity.com with some of my special ed students. I also wish that this had been offered during the week so I could have the option of installing it on our tutorial room computer. Bottom line, however, is that I would prefer a web-based program like SpellingCity that would allow a student to practice from home.

This is really a great program. As a former teacher I know that it would be extremely helpful for both high school and elementary. My wife teaches third grade and was extremely geeked about this software as well. Plus it will help our first grader review by herself (as well as with us) before the test. She loves working with the computer and I think this would be great. One idea for future upgrades the addition of spelling games would be awesome as well. THANK YOU GOTD, Dan Hite and TedCo! You all rock and I greatly appreciate this offer and hope for more educational offers in the future!

Just a few more responses to comments that came in since my last post:

#37 Paladin: I assure you there’s no virus in the software. I’ve tested the software on XP SP3 with no problems. I’m not sure what might be causing this error but if you would contact me through www.SpellQuizzer.com/Contact.htm I’d be happy to take a look at the problem.

#39 "only been limited by the 50 character limit on the clue and a 13 character limit on the ‘word to add’." I’m not sure how you got the impression that there’s a 13 character limit on the size of words you add. You can add words that are as long as 50 characters.

#40 " I have just downloaded this program and a screen pops up that says I have 30 days left in my trial period." Are you certain you downloaded from the GAOTD site and not SpellQuizzer.com? The download from GAOTD is supposed to register the software for you automatically. If it doesn’t then anyone experiencing this problem can contact me through www.SpellQuizzer.com/Contact.htm and I’ll be glad to help them out.

#60, Dan Hite of TedCo Software, thanks for providing feedback. The issue with words which have alternate spellings still needs to be addressed. There are many such words in English, children need to learn that the alternate spellings are valid. The very first sample quiz of yours which I tried included the word "gray", which I prefer to spell as "grey", which SpellQuizzer did not accept.

As a parent designing homeschool modules for my ten-year-old, I love this software!

It's really easy to use, both for the adult and the child.

I'd recommend closing any open programs before installing because when I installed it, it automatically restarted my computer, closing all my open applications--without asking me. Aside from that one glitch, I have only good things to say about this software.

#25 In the read-me file the developer has notes on what he/she has fixed. here is a quote concerning feedback:

"Added new sound effects options. You can have SpellQuizzer play
sounds when words are correctly or incorrectly spelled. You can
also turn on and off the option of playing a congratulatory
sound after a perfect quiz result (formerly it always played
the "WooHoo!" sound. You can turn these options on and off by
going to the new Sound Effects tab of the Options screen (select
"Edit Application Options..." from the File menu). You can
customize which sounds are played for each event. Several new
wave files have been included to choose from though you can
use any Windows wave file as a sound effect."

If a teacher wanted to take the time, they could make any number of congratulatory wave files and use those in this program.

I think this is one of the best programs that GotD has done in the last 3 months.

Windows XP home edition, sp2: I could activate and setup the program, but couldn't start. It says: has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart program.
An error log is being created." and when I hit OK on that dialog boc, SpellQuizzer disappears. What shall I do?

This software has a lot of uses for those that have a need. Students should benefit greatly from this. People that are spelling challenged or just learning the language will want this.

My search continues for fubar. I have hired multiple mercenaries to scour the jungles of Africa. A whole aboriginese tribe has been alerted and are searching the outback of Australia. Various primates have been recruited to investigate the rain forest of South America. Also several out of work taxi drivers were paid $1.98 each to wander the streets of Manhattan to see if he is lost among street vendors selling illegal copies of Harry Potter DVD's.

Only problem I can see is with the imported lists is the "Americanized" spelling.... so one would most likely be better off creating their own list, as we have enough of the US spelling thrust at us with other spell checkers

eg: Color vs Colour
Defense vs Defence

and other words the rest of the world spell differently in proper English....

Sometimes time spent with parents is the reason kids are turned off to school. My daughter was becoming increasingly reluctant to spend time studying because I was grilling her 40 minutes every night on her weekly spelling words. I happened across a shareware program called Spelling Bee that she could use on her own after I input her spelling words, and her willingness to engage in learning blossomed. Many kids are too afraid of disappointing parents and teachers with wrong answers that they don't make an effort to engage in learning. Computers provide a wonderful nonjudgmental, patient way to present the material to a child until the child has mastered it. Spelling Bee had great positive feedback. Spelling Bee worked well until my kid learned to fake out the program, but by then she had developed study skills and didn't really need it anymore.

I hated going to her classroom and seeing 10 computers all unused except for the one on the teacher's desk. The first thing she did in her class was put in computers she got herself for her students. She bought her own learning programs for them. The kids loved them. The object of education is to make sure the kids learn the material. Some respond to one on one, some to parental instruction, some to computer-aided instruction. Good parents and good teachers use whatever tools are available to them to help kids learn.

Why can't the kids put their own words in? There is a freeware program that alters the voice to make it sound funny and cartoony. Maybe that is a feature these software developers could add.

If anyone knows of more educational software, could you post it in the Forums? The Giveawayoftheday Forums is a great place to discover new trails to explore. Thanks TedCo for the opportunity to use your software!

Yes you can put in words and recordings in another language but.... the program itself is in ENGLISH as are the texts in the dialog boxes as are the downloadable spelling tests..

Yes there are lots of people around the world that have some level of comprehension of the English language. There are for instance more people with a college level usage of the English language in India then there are in the USA. Or for that matter English isn't native to me either, as the occasional error against grammar and spelling without a doubt reveals.

The point that people like Betty (#28) fail to take into account is the fact that there are only a very limited amount of children that speak English natively. The way this program works is clearly geared towards kids. Therefor the primary school kids that need intensive help among the 375 million people (= total amount of native speakers in the world) are the intended users. Or to put it differently; this program caters to a select group of parents which can be found in less then 5% of the entire world population. (Btw,The user group themselves would be found in the equivalent of 0,1%.) Who on top of being part of that group have a computer, internet and a kid that needs help with spelling and don't have the time or the inclination to actually sit down but do find time to install it, set it up and explain it to the intended user. In short this is a program for about a couple of thousand users at the most.

If you can understand any other language then English you might want to check out the comments in the other GOATD sites.

If you are looking for software to help with spelling, skip the software and head to the site www.spellingcity.com. It is completely free, requires no software download and does much more than this software does. Our school has distributed this information to our teachers, students, parents, and after-school program and have seen what a change it can make! GOTD software may be good for people without regular internet access, but the website I referenced does a far superior job.

Hello. My name is Dan Hite of TedCo Software and I developed SpellQuizzer. I’m posting to address some of the remarks made thus far. First off, thank you very much to everyone who has made positive remarks on the software. I really appreciate the positive feedback! I’d also like to address some of the criticisms I’ve read so far:

#4 "System requirements don’t say anything about the audio requirements though. Wondering how the words get input and how to get the play back going." Sorry the write up wasn’t clearer on that. You use a PC microphone to record the words. SpellQuizzer’s list creation screen has controls on it for recording from your PC’s microphone. If you don’t have one there are plenty of very cheap (under $10 USD) available in department stores. You don’t actually need a mic to use the software. You can instead type in “reminder phrases” for the words. For example, a reminder phrase for “house” might be “This is the building we live in.” SpellQuizzer will show the reminder phrase for each word as the student is quizzed. But the software is far more engaging for the child if you create the sound recordings so a microphone is recommended. Kids especially like it when the parent uses a funny voice or records amusing sentences. For example, if the word is handsome you might record “Handsome – Your daddy is the most handsome man in America.” That might not sound funny to you but trust me, if you have a daughter she will giggle when she hears it.

#5 "Useful software but too much over priced.. should have been about $10 or even less.." Sorry you consider SpellQuizzer overpriced. I did some market research before listing it and the price is about where it belongs for its market. But everyone has their own idea of what something should cost. Lucky for you it’s free today! :-)

#8 "there are free lists to download" Yes, you can download some sample lists from my site though ideally your child would be using the software for the specific words you or his or her wants him or her working on. "The lists are in US English, but easy enough to edit to correct Australian English " - SpellQuizzer’s built in spellchecker (used on the List Creation screen) should recognize both US, UK and AU spellings of common words.

#10 "Is this to replace the parent sitting down with their child at the kitchen table and going over the list together?" SpellQuizzer is meant to be used in addition to working one-on-one with your child. My experience with my two children was that getting them to sit down at the kitchen table and write their words out as I dictated them was a struggle. Because of that it took more time than it should have and resulted in cranky kids. SpellQuizzer is meant to take the struggle out of the equation. That doesn’t mean you aren’t supposed to spend time with your kids apart from their use of the software. :-)

#11 "Going by the awful grammar in the summary of this product I wouldn’t trust it with any spelling." Embarrassing confession time: while I’d like to blame GiveAwayOfTheDay.com for the grammar I was the one who provided the write-up. Looks like I’ll be editing my web site as it has the same mistake. Thanks for pointing this out!

#12 "Very small potential market possibilities" I thought LOTS of people had kids."Way to high a price because the smaller the market the lower the price should be. In other words they have no understanding about basic economic principles" Actually, I do have an understanding of basic economic principles. I’d like to think I know a bit about marketing as well. Guess we just disagree here."In other words they have to understanding about what it should mean to be a parent" Actually, I have two daughters. I just checked with them and they seem to think I know what I’m doing. But what do they know? They’re just kids. :-)"Encouraging kids to use the computer even more also means that they have even less reason to practice cursive writing. Considering that more and more teens lack that ’skill’ (yup, it’s a skill these days) I for one don’t think that this is a good idea." Your observation about lack of practice with cursive writing is a very good point. I couldn’t agree more that cursive writing is an important skill. But that shouldn't preclude students from using a computer to practice their spelling words."The bad grammar in the blurb here on Giveaway hopefully wasn’t written by the same people that made the program" Actually, that blurb did come from me. I'll have a slice of the humble pie..."Having dialog boxes that can’t make the difference between a plural and a singular event. This program being educational means it’s even a worse transgression then when done in general for Windows. Example : 'You have 1 errors'" Thanks for the feedback on the use of plurals on the dialogs. I’ll have to fix that! I appreciate the constructive criticism.

#15 "Although it loads perfectly well and simply, but without a preloaded word list it is a waste of time." The software is intended to help kids learn the spelling lists that are assigned to them by their teachers. Because of this a pre-loaded list really wouldn’t help much. But if you need a list try out the software you can download some 4th grade lists at www.spellquizzer.com/Spelling-Lists.htm.

#23 "It does not say if this English or American does anybody know" Actually, you can use the software for any language. The built in spellchecker that is used on the List Creation screen recognizes both American, UK an AU spellings of English words. However, you can use it for words in any language though the spellchecker almost certainly won’t recognize them (in which case you would ignore the warnings from the spellchecker).

#25 Rik: Please contact me at www.SpellQuizzer.com/Contact.htm about the import error. I’d very much like to see what’s causing that."Pity the voice is US only" You use your own voice when recording the words."No option for words that can be spelt in two ways. eg. Gaol and jail." It could indeed cause confusion if you had words such as gaol and jail in the same spelling list with the pronunciation the same for each. You could overcome that problem by including a hint of the difference in each word’s “reminder phrase” such as “begins with the letter g” and “begins with the letter j”. "As an educator I find the lack of positive feedback (Correct, Very good etc)" You can configure the software to play a congratulatory sound each time they spell a word correctly. I left that turned off by default because it gets to be tedious for the child (at least, it did for my children). You can turn it on by selecting “Edit Application Options…” from the File menu and then going to the Sound Effects tab of the Options screen and checking the box that reads “Play a sound when a word is spelled correctly”.

#28 "I suggest everyone on here call all the teachers they know and tell them about this FREE software. They will thank you!" Concerning telling teachers about SpellQuizzer: Please do! Currently I’m willing to give a free license to any teacher who contacts us from an educational institution email address (ending in .edu). This offer is only for single licenses for individual teachers who contact us. This offer may be terminated at any time. Don't delay. Act now. Supplies are low. Your mileage may vary. Articles in the mirror are closer than they appear…

As an educator, I find that this program will be a useful addition to my collection of tools. I offer my thanks to all concerned.

Belgian Dude (post 12), your comments are frequently critical of others' grammar, yet your posts are riddled with errors in word choice, spelling, usage, syntax, punctuation...you name it. Even a cursory read of your post today reveals at least 10 glaring errors. Sort of undermines your credibility, don't you think? Perhaps you could try applying your standards to your own writing. The blurb on this site describing the software reads far better than your post does. I've been coming to this site daily for over a year, and cannot recall a post from you that was not critical of the way someone is using the English language; give it a rest, will you? In my classroom, you would receive a low C at best.

As for your comment on economics, I guess Rolls Royce, Bugatti, et al. must have it all wrong. I should be able to buy an ultra-luxury auto for less than the price of a family sedan, if your concept is correct.

My apologies to all for making comments unrelated to the software itself.

Really nice program. Setup easily - no problmes with XP SP2. Very helpful with our homeschooling! Great for when busy parents need an extra hand helping kids study. I find it is also useful with studying vocabulary words. To help with studying vocabulary either add a sentence to your recording or a hint or short definition. Wonderful way to teach the correct pronunciation with difficult or unfamiliar words too. Thank you! Would love to see more tools for homeschooling or studying!

Thanks GAOTD for offering this! It is by no means something to replace a parent's involvement, but children have different learning styles and strengths/weaknesses. Some kids do just fine quizzing with mom and dad at the table, while others need to have the material presented in many different ways. My child, for example, is dyslexic and needs to review with me, write the words, manipulate them with magnetic letters, work with them on the computer, and work with them on the white board. This software is a motivating factor for kids who aren't strong in spelling - they get to work on their skills in a fun way and do it on their time. This factor alone can be huge for them in learning to spell well.

Thanks GAOTD. If I can get my grandkids to study their spelling words instead of aimlessly wasting time surfing the web and playing computer games, I can't see the harm in giving this software a try. Thanks Kim & Jim for the heads up for the web based site also.

Moderately clean install, downgraded a couple of entries, probably VB-related, fixed some VB entries damaged by other recent giveaways, slightly downgraded the version of the development tools used. By the way, yesterday's Wondershare repeat giveaway (unchanged, except for website links), like most Wondershare products, damages your Flash installation; reinstalling Adobe Flash Player is recommended.

I didn't encounter any installation, execution, or word-list import errors on 32-bit Vista. As others noted, needs to allow alternate spelling of words. The developer notes that he wrote this for his children, but as others have mentioned, since this is educational software, he should have an English teacher check the grammar of all of the text in the program, its help file, and the website.

Many of the complaints are just silly. This is to practice spelling, not writing. A parent can record their own voice, and the child can always ask their parents for help if they're having difficulty with a word. As for the price, how much do parents spend on their children's toys? Have you seen the price of textbooks?

SpellingCity is interesting, the text-to-speech engine is very good, and it looks up the words to generate relevant sentences. You do have the security issues involved in allowing young children to access the Internet (i.e., you need software which prevents them from accessing undesirable sites). Of course, children should only be allowed access to Internet-connected computers within a public area of the home, and only when their parents are around.

#12, Belgian Dude, your own spelling and grammar are quite poor. Prices for products in niche markets are relatively higher than those in mass markets. I looked into upgrading a development library which I used years ago. Market share has declined from all the sheep using Microsoft-promoted languages, and it now costs around $1500 more than it used to. A development environment I'm interested in has increased in price by $1000 in less than a year, mostly due to trying to compete with crappy languages which have open-source environments. You should also try the product rather than criticize out-of-date videos. What you call the "Windows" problem is a programmer problem. With all of its billions, Microsoft hasn't managed to hire a single competent programmer. That's probably because competent programmers won't work for Microsoft.

What time period are you from?
Cursive is a dead skill..
* It has little place in the modern world.
* Most cursive handwriting is un-readable for 80% of the English speaking population.
* Cursive is used to hide bad spelling.
* There are no standards in quality.
* There are far more important things a child needs to learn (like spelling).
* It Has NOTHING to do with this program.!!

As an ex teacher I was very interested to check out this program. Though I won't be keeping it, as I'm no longer teaching, I sent the URL to several teachers I know. :-)

It installed without a problem on Vista Home Premium, and worked as described. Being able to enter your own words of choice is excellent, as is the capacity to record your own voice saying the words. For children who struggle with spelling, hearing the words in a familiar voice can be helpful - and also hearing them in a familiar accent. :-)

I agree with the person who commented about the fact that computer synthesised ... Australian spelling ;-) ... voices are not always clear, so a 'real voice' is preferable.

This program would not only be very helpful for parents wanting to give their children a bit of extra spelling practice, but also a boon for busy teachers with 20-30 children in a class. Not all children learn at the same pace, or learn the same words as easily. Being able to install this program on several computers in a classroom, perhaps with different spelling lists in each one, would be an excellent teaching aid for any classroom, allowing different children to be practicing their spelling at their own pace.

Finally the spellingcity.com website recommended by other posters here is also an excellent aid - but only within the US. :-) I visited the site and tested a couple of lists of words - but it would not allow me to use the Australian/English spelling of several words. For example it didn't 'recognize' (US spelling) the words 'recognise' or 'verandah' (among others) and would not allow me to use them, forcing me to abandon them and select other words (regonized as US spelling) for the word list.

It looks like a nice program. It's good to see different offerings on GAOTD. You can do the same thing on http://www.spellingcity.com for free. It already has the sound recordings and a sentence for every word that I have typed in (elementary level). They keep adding more, as well. They also have a fun collection of games with the words.